BRANSON — When asked what the turning point to her senior season was, Emma Vincent responded without hesitation that it was essentially hitting rock bottom at Glendale three weeks ago.
The Nixa catcher endured an 0-for-6 day against the Lady Falcons and afterward had a heart-to-heart talk with her father.
"I was down on myself after that game," Vincent said. "I told my Dad, 'I never want to feel like this again and after today, I'm going to do better.'"
Vincent was all smiles Tuesday while going 2-for-3 with a three-run home run in the Lady Eagles' 16-1, three-inning romp past Branson.
Since her 0-for-6 day against Glendale put her in a 2-for-10 hole to start the season, Vincent has hit .367 to hike her batting average to a season-high .325.
Looking back, she felt she was pushing herself a bit too much.
"I felt pressure," Vincent said. "A lot of it was nerves. I get nervous all the time. The first third of the season I think it was very apparent I was nervous at the plate. I've been working on my plate approach. I've learned to have fun."
Vincent reminded herself she had worked too hard for too long to not succeed.
"At the beginning of the season when my confidence in myself was low, I looked back on all the hard work I've done throughout junior high and high school," she said. "I have put in the work and know I can hit the ball. Telling myself that gives me confidence when I go up to hit. I think it's showing in my at-bats."
Nixa (7-5 overall and 4-1 in the COC) showed signs against Branson (6-10 and 0-3) of emerging from its offensive doldrums. The Lady Eagles have scored three runs or less in six games. But for a night, anyway, they hit like their fans thought they would in the pre-season.
Nixa hitters padded their stats in the blowout, with Kaylee Schlenker going 2-for-2 with a home run and five RBIs and Maddy Meieier and Katie Faulk both going 3-for-3.
The pitching wasn't exactly high caliber and in fact Branson converted its center fielder into a relief pitcher for the first time on the varsity level. But at times the Lady Eagles have even struggled against seemingly very hittable pitching.
"We've been practicing against this kind of pitching — slow and normal (speed) — in practices lately because this is basically the kind of pitching we've seen, except for Mac County," Meieier said. "We've had a lot of popups and dribblers back to the pitcher against slower pitching."
"We got it figured out tonight and now we'll have to adjust to getting back to the hard stuff Thursday," coach Matt Walker said, looking ahead to Thursday's trip to defending COC champion and conference leader Webb City. "Hopefully, we can carry this over."
Walker wanted the win over Branson badly enough that he took Meieier out of the center circle at McDonald County on Monday, with Nixa trailing 1-0 after four innings and Meieier having thrown 62 pitches. The Lady Eagles went on to lose 3-0.
Meierer tamed the Lady Pirates by firing a two-hitter and striking out five. With a 15-run lead, Walker not only kept Meierer in the center circle, but urged her to finish strong.
"I challenged her to not let them touch the ball," he said.
